The studio said that it is using a multi-pronged approach to doling out revelations and answers, including its video and podcast series.

Of utmost importance to the team is that it wants to show not tell, and so it is willing to hold off on discussing certain features until they are far enough along in development to be ready for the spotlight.

One of these features is the game’s water effects, which is obviously quite important for a pirate game. There’s a lot more thought poured into these water visuals than you might think, so see what the devs have to say about this aspect of the game below.Read more

In a new Inn-side Story video, the team talks about the warmth and volume of its lighting system. As Sea of Thieves will feature a full day/night cycle, the lighting will adjust accordingly depending on the time. Plus, screenshotters who adore sunsets should be in for a treat: “We can let the sun hang on the horizon to give you that nice sunset image, let it last a bit longer. As the sun sets, it gives the illusion that it gets bigger, so we increase the disc size of the sun.”

They discuss how they salvaged a bunch of old, rickety, folk instruments (like a concertina), actual animal bones (for the rhythm bones), and a custom-made hurdy-gurdy to create the sound of the music in the pirate-themed MMO, including the music the players will make themselves. Listen along below!Read more

Creating that “authentic” pirate sound is a challenge for Sea of Thieves’ soundtrack. In a new Short Haul video, Composer Robin Beanland shows how he’s using a bizarre instrument called the hurdy-gurdy for some of the game’s music. It’s an odd instrument that is like a cross-breed between a violin and an organ grinder that produces a droning sound.

“As long as it’s believable that it exists in the universe, then that’s OK,” Beanland said. “I’m not trying to be historically accurate or anything. I just want it to be believable and sound gnarly and out-of-tune.”
Get a taste of what the hurdy-gurdy can offer after the break!Read more

October 19, 20164 Comments
Sound design is one of those elements of video game production that you don’t often consciously notice unless it’s either missing, lackluster, or so well done that it serves to draw you deeper into the game world.

Obviously, the Sea of Thieves audio team is trying its hardest to do that latter, and in a new dev video, a pair of sound designers talk about the process of creating a believable (if not fully realistic) world that players will hear.

It’s particularly interesting to listen to them discuss the ships themselves, how the sounds convey whether a ship is reacting to the waves, taking battle damage, or simply “living.” Also, the team gets to play in a swimming pool and record sounds there because they have the best job in the world.

Cozy up with the devs in the latest Inn-side Story video after the break!Read more

There’s more to be learned about the sound design behind Sea of Thieves, and the most recent video diary for the game covers one of the important parts of that sound design: the ship. After all, if everything else sounds right but the boat is constantly making motor sounds and quacking like a duck, will you really be able to convince yourself you’re on an old pirate galleon?

If so, can you tell us how? Your vision of pirate ships sounds kind of awesome.
The video can be seen just below and shows off the various sounds you can hear all through the ship, from the wash of water ahead of the bow to the gentle creaking deep within the hull.

It’s enough to make even the most hardened pirate nod appreciatively toward the intricate sound design before he tells you to give him all of your dubloons and hardtack or he’ll keel-haul your landlubbing hide.Read more

If you have been wondering why the team has been, shall we say, obsessed with talking about audio design in October, it is because the devs wanted to devote a month to the game’s sound.
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The team reported that they just did their second internal alpha playtest and were pleased at the improvements over the first test. You might see your day in the game before too long, as Rare is working on inviting more people into the test program.
So grab a mug of grog and settle in for the developer discussion after the break!Read more

Don’t call it a “living world” — that’s taken — but Sea of Thieves has its own design vision for what it’s calling a “world in motion.”

“When we say ‘world in motion,’ it is creating a living experience. Somewhere you believe exists rather than just a piece of geometry,” said Art Director Ryan Stevenson in a new Inn-side Story video.

The devs note that they didn’t go with a procedurally generated world because of this; the team wanted hand-crafted locales and ships to give them history, joy, creativity, and life. Of course, the downside of this is that it takes far more time and effort, which means that the team had to be smart about where to spend its focus and energy.
If nothing else, you can soak in the visuals and sounds of a few Sea of Thieves locations in the video below.Read more

“Originally, we didn’t want the skeletons to be similar to the pirates,” said Lead Animator Andrew Burt. “We wanted them to be scary and raw-looking.” One of the inspirations for Sea of Thieves’ skeletons came from old claymation movie horrors, which the team felt looked more scary than modern digital works.

Which MMORPG would you want with you if you were stranded on a desert island? If you said Sea of Thieves, you’re wrong. There’s no internet on desert islands.

Rare’s Level Art Lead Darren Nourish and Environment Artist Joachim Coppens star in a new dev diary this week all about Sea of Thieves’ island building, from modeling to pebble placement to playtesting that can sometimes prove islands as conceived are “way too big.” They also consider the silhouette of islands as players are approaching them in their pirate ships at sunset and deck them out with proper lore and backstory.
Watch below — there are some gorgeous video clips in there.Read more

Fans who are accepted into the program will get “exclusive insights and updates” about the game’s development, be able to bend the ear of the team, be singled out as special on the forums, and even be allowed to test the title before the rest of the unwashed masses. Granted, all pirates have low hygeine, but you get the point.
The only requirements to apply for the Insider Program is to be 18 years or older and have an Xbox Live or Windows 10 account.

Microsoft and Rare will host a Sea of Thieves Technical Alpha from December 16 to 18, the companies announced.

The Technical Alpha will be limited to 1,000 players and be available during several time slots throughout the weekend.

The contents of the Technical Alpha will be subject to a non-disclosure agreement, and is being carried out with the goals of testing early game mechanics and services at a large scale, gathering feedback from the community, and applying that feedback to the game.

Sea of Thieves | News | 25 Comments
The Sea of Thieves site has been updated with a new developer blog post by Lead Designer Mike "The Mutinous". The discussion centers around the design decision to keep the game in first person view and how it creates a more immersive game world according to Rare. This decision was one of the first and most critical decisions made at the game's inception.Read more

January 25, 20176 CommentsSea of Thieves is revving up both its testing and communication after some downtime during the holidays. As such, the team is back for its first Tales from the Tavern podcast, talking about the technical alpha and the imminent future of this co-op pirate title.

Talk about the technical alpha test results begins at 17:40. The team talked about watching the player interactions with the alpha from the control room. Apparently the devs were impressed that some players managed to sink a ship four minutes after the start of the alpha test.
Check out the podcast after the jump!Read more

The jolly, rip-roaring fun of Sea of Thieves is only going to get crazier as more players and features come in the next alpha playtest.

Rare posted a short video today teasing some of the improvements due to arrive in port in Technical Alpha 0.1.1. In addition to inviting more pirates into the alpha, Rare is creating a skeletal uprising, adding fall damage, and rolling back the world map to reveal more locations, more encounters, and more outposts.

Check it out after the jump and cross your fingers that you might get into the test!Read more

While developer Rare Ltd is hard at work on their upcoming open world multiplayer pirate game, Sea of Thieves,...

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It's only one of three in the entire world.

While developer Rare Ltd is hard at work on their upcoming open world multiplayer pirate game, Sea of Thieves, they are also taking the time to auction off some of their merchandise for charity. The highlight of what they are offering is a very slick-looking Sea of Thieves-themed Xbox One S. Here's a look at the console.The console is currently for auction on eBay with the current highest bid set at £940.00 ($994.10). If that seems quite high for an Xbox One S, it is. But know that it is one of only three in the entire world, and the point is to do something nice for the charity known as Special Effect who specializes in providing gaming opportunities to people with disabilities. If the console is a bit pricey for you, Rare is also auctioning off some other cool stuff which you can check out here. The auction on the console is set to expire in just over a day and a half from now, so if you are interested, don't wait too long.Sea of Thieves has been running Closed Alpha playtests over the last several weeks, and Developer Rare has released some behind-the-scenes videos detailing a variety of things from the game's "wider world," to the inclusion of undead enemies as well the basics of treasure hunting and sailing cooperatively.Source: [EuroGamer]

It's that time again for Sea of Thieves fans. Time to hit refresh on our inboxes, while praying and checking...Read more

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Are you one of the lucky ones?

It's that time again for Sea of Thieves fans. Time to hit refresh on our inboxes, while praying and checking the Sea of Thieves Insider Program hub for any glimmer of hope that you might be one of the lucky scallywags to get an early look at what is a very promising-looking game. Developer Rare Ltd. announced today via the Sea of Thieves Twitter account that 8,000 invites are being sent out this week for a new Technical Alpha Play Session that is due to go down this weekend.Here's the tweet:

According to the Insider Forum, at least some of the invites have already been sent out, but there's no way to tell for sure if all of them have gone out yet. If you want to have a chance at being selected for a Play Session, head over here to the Sea of Thieves Insider Program page to sign up.Source: [Twitter]

Getting into a Sea of Thieves Technical Alpha Play Session feels like winning the lottery, or so I assume (I...Read more

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If you've already been invited, you're in.

Getting into a Sea of Thieves Technical Alpha Play Session feels like winning the lottery, or so I assume (I haven't gotten in either). A select and lucky few have been able to take the highly anticipated Xbox One console exclusive for a spin, with 8,000 new players being invited to play this past weekend. These play sessions are about to ramp up in frequency, as an all new thread on the Sea of Thieves Insider Program Forum has revealed that the game will open up on a weekly basis, every Wednesday, starting today.The play sessions will run from 7-10 PM GMT and will not be replacing the weekend play sessions, so don't worry if you can't make the Wednesday sessions. For reference, EST gamers will get the play sessions from 2-5 PM, CST from 1-4 PM, MT from 12-3 PM, and PST from 11 AM-2 PM. Admittedly, these aren't the greatest of times for American gamers but understand that Rare is a British developer from Twycross, Leicestershire, so the timing makes sense for them.Rare is promising to invite increasing numbers of players into the Technical Alpha, and they plan to use the weekend sessions to introduce their largest additions. Sea of Thieves still doesn't have a release date, but it is expected sometime this year.Source: [Sea of Thieves Insider Program Forum]

The latest in a series of game play trailers from Sea of Thieves pits a crew of Rare developers facing off against a shipload of alpha testing scallywags. It's a fantastic look at the freedom that SoT offers to players and the fun that can be had with a coordinated (or not....) group during sea faring battle.Read more

What's going on right now with the piratey Sea of Thieves? The game is currently in its technical alpha (the best kind of alpha there is!), with the team occasionally posting developer gameplay videos to entertain and enlighten the masses.

In this week's Tales from the Tavern Podcast, the team discusses those play sessions, the recent additions to the game, and a studio update. The team also hinted at some things to come, such as "putting emergent things into the world to mess with the players."

Curious about when Sea of Thieves will be coming out? Previously the team had said "early 2017," but in the show comments, they clarified that "we haven't announced a release date yet. Fully focused on the Tech Alpha for now!"
Check out the full hour podcast below!Read more

Sea of Thieves continues to bake in the proverbial development oven, and as the process remain ongoing, developer Rare remains ever transparent in how the game is coming along. Today a new Sea of Thieves video was posted to the game's official YouTube account showing off a behind-the-scenes look at how the team is going about developing the game's sword combat. Suffice it to say; it's not the sexiest look that Sea of Thieves has ever had, but it's a more realistic look at how games come together that generally isn't shown to the public. Like everything else in Sea of Thieves, elegant simplicity is the focus of the game's sword combat. Players have a basic horizontal sword swing as the standard attack, which can be combo'd up for a three swing attack. The combo will only start and continue if the player lands their attack, and doing so will result in the next swing unleashing at a faster pace. Players can also charge up a Stab attack for added damage, but this leaves an opening for an enemy to attack back.Of course, it wouldn't be much of a sword fight if you couldn't block, so Sea of Thieves does have a basic system for blocking incoming attacks as well. Rare is also working on a Heavy Attack, which, if not blocked, will send the player flying, and given all of the different locations and situations that combat can take place in (pretty much anywhere), there will be plenty of opportunity for emergent gameplay. For example, if you're trying to fend off an invading pirate crew and get hit by a heavy attack, you can be knocked off your ship and into the water.Sea of Thieves does not currently have a release date but is supposed to be releasing sometime this year for Xbox One and PC.Source: [Sea of Thieves YouTube]

“Sea of Thieves is a social multiplayer game. Communication is critical,” sayeth the devs. But what if players don’t want to use voice chat in the game?

This issue is one of several that Rare is exploring following feedback from the technical alpha tests. The studio said that they found that some players don’t want to use voice chat and would prefer to be with others who are in (ahem) the same boat. To this end, Rare is exploring a non-verbal communication system as well as a matchmaking system to pair up communication types.

Other issues that the team is examining include the durability of skeletons and the visibility of player ships to each other across the vast reaches of the ocean. You can catch up with all the latest Sea of Thieves goings-on after the jump.Read more